A 11-year California game warden is in the hospital with serious injuries after a shooting incident in a rural area of El Dorado County.

Warden Bob Pera was approaching two hunters just after dark Friday for a compliance check when a shot was fired. California Department of Fish and Wildlife Lt. Patrick Foy said Pera was hit in the hand and bullet fragments entered his neck.

The normally quiet community of Georgetown didn't know what to think when police covered the area, taping off large sections of land.

"Especially up here, you know we don't see a lot of action, and then when people are driving around and cop cars all over your house and you're hearing the sirens, of course you're going to get a little nervous," Georgetown resident Bryan O'Brien explained.

After he was shot, Pera was able to use his radio to give sheriff's deputies his location.

"It was pretty complicated just to get help to him," Foy said. "He had to give almost step by step directions on how to get through some of these dirt roads."

Pera got the hunters to stay, and they eventually helped him with his wounds.

The El Dorado County Sheriff's Office is leading the officer-involved shooting investigation. Details about the shooting are limited as the investigation continues.

For now, Foy said investigators haven't determined if this was an accidental shooting or something else.

"Everything's possible at this point, so we just don't know," Foy explained.

Investigators detained the two hunters, but by Saturday morning they were not in custody. No arrests have been made in the shooting.